When President Donald Trump threatened to go into Nigeria " 'guns-a-blazing,' to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities," he reignited an old illusion — that America can save Africa from itself, or that the United States has the right to strike any nation without regard for international law or sovereignty.
In Nigeria, some welcomed Trump's warning as proof that someone powerful was finally paying attention — a savior who might rescue them from a captured state ruled by a few political elites whose extractive and manipulative leadership has brought a once-great nation to its knees. Others dismissed Trump's threat as grandstanding by a man deflecting from turmoil at home.
As a Nigerian priest, theologian and advocate for Gospel nonviolence and an inclusive community everywhere, my argument is simple: Trump and America cannot save Nigerian Christians or Nigeria because both nations are facing existential crises about the survival of democracy and the moral foundations of a just, inclusive and pluralistic society.
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